To Be Continued (graduate course)

A Graduate Course on the Victorian Novel

OVERVIEW

Sequels, prequels, and adaptations dominate our current entertainment industry and are often cited as signs of the demise of creative innovation. However, the art of continuation has a long and rich history. In the nineteenth century, many readers celebrated continuations for adding new, original material to the novel. The Victorian novel’s signature forms—the serialized novel, triple-decker, and series fiction—each invite continuation, prompting readers to pursue the story beyond the pages in their grasp. In this course we will examine several different forms of continuations—theatrical adaptations, embedded texts, sequels, and so-called plagiarisms. We will begin by visiting the Burns library, where we will examine the original forms of our readings to explore the role of continuation in the construction and dissemination of the novel. With the aid of theories of narrative and adaptation, as well as histories of the book, we will gain a better understanding of the history of reading, the nature of the Victorian novel, and the enduring popularity of sequels.

OBJECTIVES

To identify and analyze the types, functions, and structures of continuations

To examine the history of reading and the structure of the book industry

To reflect on the Victorian period’s influence on our current reading culture

To advance critical discussions in history of the book, narratology, adaptation studies, and literary criticism

To investigate intertextual and intermedial relationships

To develop writing and research skills

SERIAL READING PROJECT

In our first week, we will begin a reading project that will extend through the semester. We will read Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White serially—one installment per week (except for a concentrated study in weeks 6 and 7)—in its original form in All the Year Round (available at http://www.djo.org.uk/). Rather than reading each installment in isolation, we will read other texts published in the installment. This project will help us understand the intertextual nature of the weekly serial and the reading rhythm it produced. Each week you will post your thoughts about the installment on Blackboard, paying careful attention to moments that you want to be continued. We will begin each class by discussing the week’s All the Year Round (ATYR) reading, before moving on to discuss the other assigned reading.

ASSIGNMENTS

In addition to contributing to class discussion, you will complete three assignments:

Students will be responsible for guiding a portion of a class meeting. Working in pairs, you will lead approximately 30 minutes of class discussion. On this day, each presenter will also submit a short paper (of no longer than three double-spaced pages). This paper will be focused around a simple three-question drill. At the top of each of the three pages, you will articulate a single question, which you will then go on to explore on that page. Each paper needs to include one question addressing each of the following topics:

A question internal to a single text assigned for that day’s reading

A question that sets two or more of the day’s readings in dialogue with one another

A question that sets one of the day’s readings in dialogue with one or more readings from previous class periods.

Students will write a proposal for their seminar paper. The proposal should engage concepts from the course, but can be on topics/texts of your own choosing. This proposal should be no more than 500 words and should also include a bibliography. The proposal should state the question you will address, and explain how that question emerges from particular texts. The bibliography should include all the texts (primary and secondary) that you think will help you work out your ideas. The proposal and bibliography will be circulated to all students in the class for in-class discussion.

Finally, students will write a seminar paper of roughly 20 pages. I encourage you to think of this paper as a draft of a potential article for publication.

Alternate Assignment Option: If you are not interested in preparing an article for publication, we can discuss other possible assignments. One option would be to create a digital edition of a text (in the public domain) that includes an appendix of continuations with your commentary. Using myebook, espresso, or another similar service, you can include media links, cover art, illustrations, etc. The edition should also include an introduction. Another possible option, if you are creatively-inclined, would be to create your own continuation. If you choose this option, you will also need to submit a paper in which you explain your authorial choices, set your creation in dialogue with other existing continuations, and engage theories from the course. We can also discuss pedagogical projects that integrate continuations into the classroom.

Possible Texts/Topics of Interest:

If you are in need of inspiration for your paper, I have listed a few texts/topics below that speak to the concepts and texts we will be discussing throughout the semester. Early editions of most of the works listed are available in the Burns or nearby libraries.

Other Victorian sequels: Through the Looking Glass, “A Sequel to Vanity Fair,” The Untold Sequel of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,Tom Brown at Oxford,A Sequel to Don Juan, Gwendolyn: or, Reclaimed, Martin’s vagaries; being a sequel to “A tale of a tub,” Alice; or, The mysteries. A sequel to “Ernest Maltravers”

Continuations from other periods: TheOdyssey, The Aeneid, Don Quixote Part 2, The New Testament, Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Joseph Andrews, Wide Sargasso Sea, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Installment 1 of Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White in All the Year Round 31

Week 2: Victorian Reading Practices

The complete issue of All the Year Round 32: (Installment II of The Woman in White; Henry T. Spicer’s “Real Horrors of War;” “How to Make Money;” James Macfarlan’s “The Midnight Train;” “The Elephant at Home;” “Economy in Sheepskin;” and “A Physician’s Dreams”)

Dames, Nicholas. The Physiology of the Novel: Reading, Neural Science, and the Form of Victorian Fiction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. (selections)